Air Travel

TSA PreCheck Enrollment Is Now Less Expensive—Just in Time for Holiday Travel

The fee for a new TSA PreCheck membership just dropped down to $78 for a five-year membership.
TSA PreCheck Enrollment Is Now Less Expensive—Just in Time for Holiday Travel
Patrick Tomasso/Unsplash

Travelers looking to minimize stress at the airport got some good news on Friday: The TSA has reduced the enrollment fee for TSA PreCheck, just before the hectic holiday travel season starts to ramp up. 

The fee to join the program has been lowered to $78 for a five-year membership. Previously, enrollment in TSA PreCheck cost $85 for five years. Members of the program are allowed a speedy process through airport security—they can keep on their shoes and light jackets, and aren't required to remove liquids or large electronics like laptops from their carry-on bags. 

Aside from paying the fee, enrolling in TSA PreCheck entails submitting an online application and visiting one of 500 enrollment centers throughout the country for an interview and to be fingerprinted. After being closed during the height of the pandemic, the TSA's network of enrollment centers are fully reopen again.

The new lower fee also applies to in-person PreCheck renewals, where travelers visit an enrollment center to renew with an agent face to face. Those renewals, which also used to cost $85, have now been reduced to $78 as well. Online PreCheck renewal fees haven't changed and are still the cheapest—and most convenient—option, at just $70.

Travelers still have the option to side-step paying the cheaper enrollment or renewal charges by purchasing their PreCheck membership on the right travel credit card. Numerous cards offer statement credits that cover the cost of PreCheck membership every five years. 

Officials say there is still time to join the program before holiday travel is in full swing. “For individuals and families with plans to fly this holiday season, now is the time to enroll or renew in TSA PreCheck,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a release on Friday. “TSA PreCheck offers significant benefits to those who meet its enrollment standards—less physical contact, fewer items on the conveyor belt and faster screening.” According to the agency, PreCheck is available at more than 200 airports, with 85 airlines that participate in the program.

In recent months the TSA has been taking steps to make airport screening checkpoints more streamlined for both travelers with PreCheck and those in the regular security line. Earlier this year, the agency stopped scanning boarding passes at numerous facilities to speed up the process and announced an initiative with Apple Wallet for PreCheck fliers to use just their iPhone to get through security at certain airports.